Download Anatomy of the Heart

Locations
Consultant Cardiologists
Dr Michael Adsett
Dr James Cameron
Dr Louise M Carey
Dr Malcolm B Davison
Dr J Elisabeth Donnelly
Dr Alex Roati
Dr E G Galea
Dr Peter Hadjipetrou
Dr John R Hayes
Dr Robert Moss
Dr John T Rivers
Dr Wayne J Stafford
Dr Przemek Palka
Practicing
Clinical Cardiology
Coronary Angiography
Coronary Angioplasty / Stenting
Cardiac Electrophysiology
Cardiac Pacing
Echocardiography
Transoesophageal
Echocardiography
Event Loop Recording
Exercise Stress testing
Holter Monitoring
Phone (07) 3016 1111
E-Mail: [email protected]
St Andrews Place Cardiology
Level 5, St Andrews Place
33 North Street
Spring Hill
Q4000
PO Box 525
Spring Hill Qld 4004
Greenslopes Specialist Centre
Greenslopes Private Hospital
Suite 2, Lobby Level
Newdegate Street
Greenslopes Qld 4120
Holy Spirit Medical Centre
Holy Spirit Northside Hospital
Level 2
Rode Road, Chermside Q 4032
Phone: (07) 3621 3111
Matar Private Cardiology
Suite 10, Level 6
Matar Medical Centre
293 Vulture Street
South Brisbane
QLD 4101
Matar Private Hospital
313 Bourbong Street
Bundaberg Q4670
Phone: (07) 3839 0677
Sunshine Coast
BuderimSunshine Coast Private Hospital
NambourSelangor Medical Centre
GympieCooloolah Specialist Centre
Phone : 1800 211 139
Anatomy of
the Heart
The Heart
The heart weighs between 200 and 425 grams
and is a little larger than the size of your fist. It
has a volume capacity of 80-100mls. By the
end of a long life a person’s heart may have
beat more than 3.5 billion times. In fact, each
day the average heart beats about 100,000
times, pumping around 7500 liters of blood.
Your heart has 4 chambers. The upper chambers are
called the left and right atria and the lower chambers
are called the left and right ventricles. A wall of muscle called the septum separates the left and right atria
and the left and right ventricles. These are referred to
as the artial and ventricular septums. You may have
heard your doctor refer to a condition called a ‘hole in
the heart’. This simply means a tiny hole in the atrial
septum separating the atria (called a PFO– Patent Foramen ovale or ASD—Atrial Septal Defect) or in the
ventricular septum separating the ventricles (called a
VSD—Ventricular Septal Defect). The left ventricle is
the largest and strongest chamber in your heart.
The left ventricle’s chamber walls are only about 1.0
to 1.3cm, but they have enough force to push blood
through the aortic valve and into your body.
Four types of valve regulate blood flow through your
heart.
Your heart is located between your lungs in the
middle of your chest, behind and slightly to the
left of your breastbone. A double layered membrane called the pericardium surrounds your
heart like a sac. The outer layer of the pericardium surrounds the roots of your hearts major
blood vessels and is attached by ligaments to
your spinal column, diaphragm and other parts
of your body. The inner layer of the pericardium is attached to the heart muscle. A coating
of fluid separates the two layers of membrane,
letting the heart move as it beats, yet still be
attached to your body.
The tricuspid valve regulates blood flow between
the right atrium and right ventricle
The pulmonary valve controls blood flow from
the right ventricle into the pulmonary arteries,
which carry blood to your lungs to pick up oxygen
The mitral valve lets oxygen rich blood from your
lungs pass from the left atrium into the left ventricle
The aortic valve opens the way for oxygen rich
blood to pass from the left ventricle into the aorta,
your body’s largest artery, where it is delivered to
the rest of your body
A more detailed description of blood flow through the
heart is seen below.
Blood enters the right atrium of the heart through
the superior vena cava. The right atrium contracts
and pushes the blood cells through the tricuspid
valve into the right ventricle. The right ventricle
then contracts and pushes the blood through the
pulmonary valve into the pulmonary artery, which
takes it to the lungs. In the lungs, the blood cells
exchange carbon dioxide for oxygen. The oxygenated blood returns to the heart via the pulmonary
veins and enters the left atrium. The left atrium
contracts and pumps the blood through the mitral
valve into the left ventricle. Finally, the left ventricle contracts and pushes the blood into the aorta.
The aorta branches off into several different arteries that pump the oxygenated blood to various
parts of the body.